FIG. 7 is a view showing the appearance of a convertible to which hood portion 1 being a non-fixed roof is attached. The hood portion 1 is an openable roof which is foldable centering around the connecting lines X--X, Y--Y and Z--Z. The hood portion 1 folded when the roof is opened is accommodated in the rear lower section (not illustrated) of a vehicle, and when the roof is closed, the front edge of the hood portion 1 is engaged with the header 3, which fixes the upper end of the front glass 2, and the upper end of the hood portion of the front pillar 4 as shown in FIG. 7.
As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, a weather strip 5 is attached to both side ends of the hood portion 1 via a retainer 7 directly fixed at a link 6 which becomes a hood rib. The weather strip 5 consists of an attaching base 5a fitted into the retainer 7; a hollow sealing portion 5b with which the terminal ends 8a of the front glass 8, being an elevating side window glass, and 9a of the quarter glass 9 are resiliently engaged when being elevated; a seal lip portion 5c resiliently engaged with the link 6; and a seal lip portion 5d resiliently engaged with the hood sealing portion 10 which is provided between the link 6 and hood portion 1 and is resiliently engaged with the hood portion 1 from inside of the compartment when being closed; which are formed integral with each other. Herein, FIG. 8 is a side view showing the positional relationship between the weather strip 5 and the hood sealing portion 10, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A--A, in FIG. 7, which corresponds to the cross-sectional view taken along the line A--A in FIG. 8.
Although the hood sealing portion 10 shown in FIG. 9 is hollow, there may be available a hood sealing portion 11 having a lip 11a formed as shown in FIG. 10. The fixing direction of the hood sealing portion 10 is different from that of the hood sealing portion 11. However, they are directly fixed at the link 6.
However, in a convertible having a foldable hood portion 1, since there is no retainer 7 at the folding portions X, Y and Z, that is, nothing to support the weather strip 5, it is very difficult to seal the folding portions. Moreover, there are some types of convertibles in which the link 6 is not continuous. In such cases, the sealing is made further difficult.
Therefore, usually, as shown in FIG. 8, the ends of adjacent weather strips 5 are caused to overlap several :millimeters (overlapping portion L) when the hood portion 1 is closed, wherein the sealing is secured between the weather strips 5. The ends of the weather strips 5 are die-molded to ensure that the overlapping is secured with reliability.
Furthermore, usually, as shown in FIG. 8, although, when the hood portion 1 is closed, the sealing between the hood sealing portions 10 or between the hood sealing portions 11 is secured by causing the ends of the adjacent hood sealing portions 10 or adjacent hood sealing portions 11 to butt into each other (clearance-free contact), the ends of the hood sealing portions 10 or hood sealing portions 11 are not die-molded.
Furthermore, the hood sealing portion 10 or sealing portion 11 is attached to the link 6 and the weather strip 5 is assembled to the retainer 7 separately from each other, a gap is likely to occur between the hood sealing portions and the weather strip due to unevenness or imbalance in the assembling, wherein the sealing between the link 6 and hook 1 is made insufficient.
Therefore, in the cross-sectional portion taken along the line B--B in FIG. 8, it is made somewhat difficult that the weather strip 5, hood sealing portions 10 and 11 are located at their appointed positions in a stable condition. That is, it is difficult to secure the sealing effect as intended. For example, if water used for washing is splashed onto the folding portions X, Y, Z, such a problem arises, where the water W invades the automobile compartment.
Furthermore, in the sealing structure shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10,
(1) The link 6 and retainer 7 are iron-based metal and iron or iron-based metal and stainless steel, etc., and they are fixed by studs or screws at several points. Therefore, the sealing between the link 6 and retainer 7 is insufficient. PA1 (2) Since the hood sealing portion 10 or hood sealing portion 11 is attached to the link 6 and weather strip 5 is attached to the retainer 7 separately from each other, a gap is likely to occur between the hood sealing portions and the weather strip due to unevenness or imbalance in the assembling, wherein the sealing between the link 6 and hood 1 is made insufficient. PA1 (3) With respect to a method for attaching the hood sealing portion 10 or hood sealing portion 11 to the link 6, the fixing method is difficult, and there are thus some limitations in shape where it is difficult to secure a sufficient sealing performance. PA1 (4) It is difficult to achieve a secure sealing between the hood 1 and the hood sealing portion 10 or hood sealing portion 11 because the hood is made of cloth. PA1 wherein another hood sealing portion (15) corresponding to the folding portions (X, Y, Z) of said hood portion (1) is die-molded at the end portion of said hood sealing portion (10).
In particular, it is very difficult to secure a sufficient sealing performance at the folding portions of the hood 1. Although there have been attempts to improve the sealing performance by devising the shape of the weather strip 5 and the hood sealing portions 10 or 11, it is difficult to prevent water from leaking in the automobile compartment with any sufficient sealing performance secured.